You may recall (or may not!) about a year ago I had a post entitled St. Jerome vs. the Council of Trent on Scripture. I would like to continue that “anti-Apocrypha” line into the medievals with Nicolas of Lyra (1270-1340), and while the Roman Catholics might rightly call him Doctor plain and useful (Doctor Planus et Utilis), I think a Protestant might more justly call him either Doctor Sensus Literalis or Doctor Scripturae Canonicae. While reading through this article on Nicolas in the Catholic Encyclopedia, which calls him “one of the foremost exegetes of all time,” I wonder if (more…)

Believe it or not there is a renewed interest in the relationship of the 16th c. Protestants to Latin Bibles in general, for information on a significant research project at the University of St. Andrews in the UK click here for the project description. And to see just exactly how important it is to the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council, click here. (Blimey, that’s a spot o’ quid! … especially with the 2-for-1 $/£.) So at least among 16th c. students and scholars, that amounts to a relatively hot topic.

On a similar note, for modern Protestants who might worry why Calvin and company felt free to quote from and to interact with the Vulgate in their commentaries and treatises, what follows might tamp down a little of that theological heartburn and alleviate such queasiness. Keep in mind that Luther’s Bible translated into German was a translation of the Greek text with heavy usage of the Latin Vulgate begun in 1521 (it went through about 5 editions and he dabbled with it all the way through 1545).

Now don’t get me wrong, there are significant places where Jerome botches it, like (more…)